- Joined
- Dec 14, 2016
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
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Hey guys! Just took my OAT this morning at 8am. Ended around 12:30ish.
SO. let me just start by saying I never ever planned to take the OAT this month. I was going to take it next summer as I chose to study abroad in Europe from June-July. I didn't think I would be motivated enough to study and get a good score in only a month. I scheduled it anyways, under my parents' pressure. I scheduled my OAT on August 1st for September 11th. This left me with around 5-6 weeks to study. I had no idea what I was doing and only looked off these threads for advice. I decided to purchase: Chad's videos for a month.
First two weeks of August: Watched every video for ochem, gen chem, and physics. I often alternated, doing one unit of each subject each day. I also did QR videos in between. I'm pretty sufficient at math, but really getting familiar with scientific notation helped alot.
Last two weeks of August: I begin doing the quizzes and did my first diagnostic test on August 23rd. School was starting soon so I knew I had to change my study habits. I couldn’t put in 10 hours like some people on SDN were. To be honest, the people that post their experiences are usually the ones that score high. I’m here to be the GENERAL POPULATION OF US OKAY. I have a 3.48 GPA and struggle sometimes too. I was REALLY bad at physics; I have never taken any physics course yet, I know bad idea but I never had time. Im gonna take them this summer!
Anyways that was the biggest struggle of my life. STAY AWAY FROM KAPLAN PHYSICS. It doesn’t teach you at all. I recommend Cracking the OAT. It has 300 pages over physics. After my diagnostic test, I supplemented the book in by reading 20-30 pages a day and practicing! Nothing too extreme. I had the big 2015 kaplan oat book but it really wasn’t necessary.
Around September 1st, I realized my bio scores were low as well, according to my practice tests (which ill post the scores down below), so I purchased DATQvault! The bio portion has 10 practice tests and exposes you to a lot of info. I also regularly went through Feralis bio notes. I loved chad’s review sheets from the website as well.
One method I recommend is making flashcards for questions you miss and information you want to stick in your brain. This is how I got ochem down! Learn the meta and ortho/para directors. Keep in mind, mostly ochem 1 stuff (which I got a C+ in…) LOL so I was not happy to have to relearn this stuff. Chad helps a lot though. I just studied from the physics book until I finished it throughout the first two weeks of school. I also never studied RC… because im naturally good at comprehension.. also GRE QR style questions are in now, so look up those! Didn’t have problems with those two sections, only science LOL.
I didn’t spend the extra money on OAT destroyer because I felt like I had no time to go through those thousands of hard questions in my time crunch- however, if you have the time and resources I would suggest you check it out! I also had Cliff’s Notes AP bio! It has a lot of information.
Resources used: Cliffs notes AP bio, Cracking the OAT for physics, Chads videos, DATQvault….$140.. and the big book $70 I got from someone (came with two free tests!)
ALSO- i partied A LOT the last two weeks, which I don’t recommend… however, I managed to always get studying time in. I believe being social and keeping your friends close is healthy and help you study better instead of closing yourself off for 5 weeks. Be sane!! It’s a tough process but I believe it is possible… and that’s coming from me LOL.
Scores:
1st diagnostic (Free from Kaplan)/1st test/2nd test/GS/ADA//REAL OAT
bio: 310/290/290/290/380/350
gchem: 300/320/320/310/350/380
ochem: 320/290/290/300/330/320
physics: 220/220/260/270/320/340
RC: 330/370/370/360/380/340
QR: 390/310/330/360/360/360
TS: -/270/280/290/360/350
AA: 310/300/310/320/-/350
Ended up making a TS/AA 350/350!
This goes to show, that yes trusting the process is the important thing. If YOU ARE CONSTANTLY LEARNING, you will show it on the exam! The real OAT consists of many simple problems, just understand the basics and you will ace the exam. I memorized the simple kinematics equations and maybe one or two optic ones; the very simple ones! The other problems you can deduce or use logic honestly. Keep in mind: never taken physics!!!
I am very proud of these scores and attribute it to chad’s videos and the cracking the oat!!! Just be exposed to all sorts of bio. I recommend the flash card technique for sure! Did these a couple of times before the big day and I remembered things id gotten wrong..
Test day tips!
-had to use my sleeve as an eraser. Near the middle of QR, I ran out of room so I started relying on the calculator. Im pretty quick at pressing the buttons so I used it to my advantage. Some math you just shouldn’t waste time doing. I underestimated RC a bit, but I think I still did well~
Let me know if you have any questions!
SO. let me just start by saying I never ever planned to take the OAT this month. I was going to take it next summer as I chose to study abroad in Europe from June-July. I didn't think I would be motivated enough to study and get a good score in only a month. I scheduled it anyways, under my parents' pressure. I scheduled my OAT on August 1st for September 11th. This left me with around 5-6 weeks to study. I had no idea what I was doing and only looked off these threads for advice. I decided to purchase: Chad's videos for a month.
First two weeks of August: Watched every video for ochem, gen chem, and physics. I often alternated, doing one unit of each subject each day. I also did QR videos in between. I'm pretty sufficient at math, but really getting familiar with scientific notation helped alot.
Last two weeks of August: I begin doing the quizzes and did my first diagnostic test on August 23rd. School was starting soon so I knew I had to change my study habits. I couldn’t put in 10 hours like some people on SDN were. To be honest, the people that post their experiences are usually the ones that score high. I’m here to be the GENERAL POPULATION OF US OKAY. I have a 3.48 GPA and struggle sometimes too. I was REALLY bad at physics; I have never taken any physics course yet, I know bad idea but I never had time. Im gonna take them this summer!
Anyways that was the biggest struggle of my life. STAY AWAY FROM KAPLAN PHYSICS. It doesn’t teach you at all. I recommend Cracking the OAT. It has 300 pages over physics. After my diagnostic test, I supplemented the book in by reading 20-30 pages a day and practicing! Nothing too extreme. I had the big 2015 kaplan oat book but it really wasn’t necessary.
Around September 1st, I realized my bio scores were low as well, according to my practice tests (which ill post the scores down below), so I purchased DATQvault! The bio portion has 10 practice tests and exposes you to a lot of info. I also regularly went through Feralis bio notes. I loved chad’s review sheets from the website as well.
One method I recommend is making flashcards for questions you miss and information you want to stick in your brain. This is how I got ochem down! Learn the meta and ortho/para directors. Keep in mind, mostly ochem 1 stuff (which I got a C+ in…) LOL so I was not happy to have to relearn this stuff. Chad helps a lot though. I just studied from the physics book until I finished it throughout the first two weeks of school. I also never studied RC… because im naturally good at comprehension.. also GRE QR style questions are in now, so look up those! Didn’t have problems with those two sections, only science LOL.
I didn’t spend the extra money on OAT destroyer because I felt like I had no time to go through those thousands of hard questions in my time crunch- however, if you have the time and resources I would suggest you check it out! I also had Cliff’s Notes AP bio! It has a lot of information.
Resources used: Cliffs notes AP bio, Cracking the OAT for physics, Chads videos, DATQvault….$140.. and the big book $70 I got from someone (came with two free tests!)
ALSO- i partied A LOT the last two weeks, which I don’t recommend… however, I managed to always get studying time in. I believe being social and keeping your friends close is healthy and help you study better instead of closing yourself off for 5 weeks. Be sane!! It’s a tough process but I believe it is possible… and that’s coming from me LOL.
Scores:
1st diagnostic (Free from Kaplan)/1st test/2nd test/GS/ADA//REAL OAT
bio: 310/290/290/290/380/350
gchem: 300/320/320/310/350/380
ochem: 320/290/290/300/330/320
physics: 220/220/260/270/320/340
RC: 330/370/370/360/380/340
QR: 390/310/330/360/360/360
TS: -/270/280/290/360/350
AA: 310/300/310/320/-/350
Ended up making a TS/AA 350/350!
This goes to show, that yes trusting the process is the important thing. If YOU ARE CONSTANTLY LEARNING, you will show it on the exam! The real OAT consists of many simple problems, just understand the basics and you will ace the exam. I memorized the simple kinematics equations and maybe one or two optic ones; the very simple ones! The other problems you can deduce or use logic honestly. Keep in mind: never taken physics!!!
I am very proud of these scores and attribute it to chad’s videos and the cracking the oat!!! Just be exposed to all sorts of bio. I recommend the flash card technique for sure! Did these a couple of times before the big day and I remembered things id gotten wrong..
Test day tips!
-had to use my sleeve as an eraser. Near the middle of QR, I ran out of room so I started relying on the calculator. Im pretty quick at pressing the buttons so I used it to my advantage. Some math you just shouldn’t waste time doing. I underestimated RC a bit, but I think I still did well~
Let me know if you have any questions!
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